Page 46 of Professor Next Door

27. Galen

“So they’re dropping the suit then?” I heard Tara’s voice from a distance, the deep rumble of my lawyer’s voice followed, quiet and low.

“Yes, and the police have stated they’re no longer interested in pursuing Sarah’s claims. I think Kayla’s parents are in for a time of it though. I hope that she-cat of a lawyer of theirs is a good criminal lawyer.” I heard Bill’s chuckle and wondered what he was doing in our bedroom.

Then I wondered what exactly they were talking about, and why I couldn’t move my leg, and what was wrong with my head? Why did it feel so fuzzy inside and out? I moved my left hand up to touch my head and felt the gauze covering it. That explained that, but why was there an IV in my arm. Was I in the hospital?

“Ahem. Help?” I opened my eyes, my vision blurry for a moment before it cleared, and saw a very bedraggled Tara and an immaculate as usual Bill.

“Galen, my boy!” Thank fuck he didn’t bellow that in his usual voice! “Glad to see you awake, son!”

“Glad to be awake, I guess? What’s going on?” I looked from him to Tara waiting on an answer.

“You had some kind of an accident, Galen. We’ve been waiting on you to tell us. Even the police are waiting in case you were assaulted!” Tara came to my bedside and took my hand. I clasped my fingers in the warmth of hers, clinging to her presence.

“I remember going to the park.” I thought back, trying to remember it all but a lot of it was still just black moments of nothing. I’d only just woke up, give me a break! “I think I slipped on a rock or something. There wasn’t anyone around when I woke up. I had to crawl back to the car.”

“It’s a wonder you managed to get that far! You’ve been out for two days!” Tara looked relieved, and there was a look in her eye, one I recognized, one that made me feel warm and loved. Then her words sank in.

“Two days? Wow, I split my head open or something?” I used my other hand to feel around the gauze on my head until I found a sore spot in the back and stopped. “Oh, that’s not good.”

“No, it’s not. But it will heal. Your ankle doesn’t need surgery, either, but it may later. You’ve done some damage to the ligaments but the swelling is going down now.” Tara gave it to me straight at least.

“The other good news is the custody case against you has been dropped. The judge dismissed it when Sarah confessed she lied. And your new wife presented an argument that an expert backed up by looking through Kayla’s autopsy record. She needed to be on insulin but wasn’t, and on the day of the accident, her blood sugar went off the charts. Tara theorized that Kayla likely went into shock of some kind, she can explain it better than me, and passed out.”

“Meaning, I couldn’t have caused her death.” My brain was starting to work again and I was now processing what Tara and Bill said. “I wasn’t responsible at all.”

“No, son. She refused medical care, I spoke to her gynecologist about her last appointment. She refused to believe the tests were correct. Her psychiatrist even tried to get her to see reason, but she wouldn’t. She knew she was depressed and having some other issues, but she refused to believe she needed insulin. She wasn’t overweight and for whatever reason she had it stuck in her head that she couldn’t have Type 2 diabetes.”

“Do you think I neglected her, Bill?” I needed to know, even if Tara was in the room. Bill was the lawyer after all, he might be the only one that could take that burden away.

“I think you were a new father, overworked, and trying your best, Galen. That’s not just the lawyer talking, that’s a man that knows what it’s like to be a new father. You were doing the best you could with the hand you’d been dealt.”

Poker talk, I could understand that.

“Thanks, Bill. That’s all I needed to know. Oh, except for when do I get out of this place? I want my own bed.”

“That will be up to the doctor. Tara promised.” He gave Tara a wink and moved to the end of my bed. “Now, you do as they both tell you and get better. I’m going to let you get back to resting. Tara, when he feels better and his head is clearer, tell him to give me a call. We’ll discuss all of this again.”

“I will, Bill, and thanks for dropping by. It means a lot.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek which made the man blush! He spluttered his way out with a wave after that, before Tara came to sit on the side of the bed.

“You know you’re stuck with me now, right?” She looked at me with love in her eyes and a memory came to mind. Tara in the darkness of the room, her face lit only by the machines, tears in her eyes, as I told her I loved her.

“I think you’re stuck with me, Mrs. Elliot!” I took her hand, pulling her down to stroke her face, her eyes shining at me. “It’s not like I’d let a woman that knows what it is to live around pain get away.”

“How did you... you heard that?” She looked startled but pleased.

“Indeed, I did. Along with a few other things.” I brushed a finger down her jaw, loving how beautiful she was with her face clean of makeup.

“Do you remember waking up?” she asked timidly.

“If you mean when I told you I love you, of course I remember. And I meant it.”

“Did you?” Rather than popping up to stare at me, she leaned her head on my chest, her arm going around my lower abdomen.

“I did, baby. Every word. There’s never been a woman like you in my life and I know there never will be again. You’ve changed me, Tara. You’ve woken me from a nightmare I’d forgotten I was living in. You and Rikki, you’re all I need in this world, you know? I love you and I can never thank you enough for what you’ve brought me.”

I felt actual tears in my eyes and blinked them away, but then one fell on my cheek. I swiped the little bastard away and grumbled at myself. Crying like a girl? Fuck, what had that knock to my head done to me?

“Good,” Tara said from below my chin. She sounded like she was about to fall asleep and I wondered how much rest she’d had the last few days. “I love you back, Galen. Always.”

Then she began to snore, and it was alright, because I had the woman of my dreams in my arms, and if she was exhausted because she’d spent three days terrified for me, well, who could blame her for falling asleep when she knew I was out of the woods, literally.